Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Online Versions of Popular Word Games
Some of us just don't really have that much money to afford iPhones and iPads to play fun and interactive word games right? You don't have to worry about that because I have already picked 3 fun popular word games that you can play in the comfort of your own home and computer. They are Scrabble Online, Bookworm Online Version and Monopoly Wii Mini-Game. These games are great for casual gaming plus they're free to play. You do not have to pay for it and you do not have to download the Free Trial.
Scrabble Online is an online version of the popular word game, Scrabble (Duh). Unlike the real scrabble, Scrabble Online only requires you to fill in 7 letters into the white spaces. You can make up whatever word you want provided that you use the letters that were given to you in the first place (The RED tiles). For more points, make sure your word can stretch to that PINK space. In Scrabble, there is only a Pink space and you can double the points when a particular letter reaches the Pink spot.
For example, I have the letters, C, D, A, M, R, E, H. I have decided to form the word HARE. H gives me 4 points, A gives me 1 point, R gives me 1 point and E gives me 1 point. If I total them up, it will give me 7 points. That's how the points system works. If any of your letter reaches the Pink space, you can double up the points. For example, if I formed a word and the letter H reaches the Pink spot, H will give me 8 points instead of 4 points. Get it?
Another fun word game that I would like to introduce to you is Bookworm. Unlike Scrabble Online, Bookworm has lots of words for you to solve and you have to do that by clicking and dragging one letter to the other and another and another to form a word. It's simple. The more letters you drag, the more points you'll get provided that the letters make sense. It's a fun and addicting game and it's free to play.
These green dialogue boxes will pop up occasionally to assist you with your gameplay. Basically, they just pop up whenever the game gets something new like Burning letters, Green letters, Gold letters and such. You can disable the dialogue boxes by clicking right at the bottom where it says 'Click here to disable hints'. But if you're a first timer, I would recommend you to keep the dialogue boxes because you may never know when you really need them.
Another part of the gameplay includes coloured word tiles. There are several. They include Burning letters, Green letters and Gold letters. Burning letters are dangerous letters. You will have to get rid of them before they reach the bottom. Once the burning tiles reach the bottom, it's GAME OVER for you. How do you get rid of them you may ask. All you have to do is to form a word with a burning letter. The word has to have a burning letter included inside. And when you are done with that, the burning letter will be gone.
Same rule goes with the Green and Gold letters. Green letters let you earn extra points while Gold letters let you earn even more points. I'm not sure if you can get more points by getting rid of the Burning letters though. I'll let you try it. Oh and make sure that the words formed must have a minimum of 3 letters. Words like IS and AS won't be registered.
This may be out of topic. The Monopoly Wii Mini Game is NOT a word game but I chose this because it was simply fun and addictive. Despite the inclusion of the name Wii, this game does not require you to have a Wii. All you have to do is just to click and drag the coloured money bags into the corresponding bank vaults. I don't think this game needs further explanation though. Just click the link above and play it. Oh and don't forget that this game is actually promoting you to buy their new Monopoly Wii game. So if you have a Wii and you want to play more, get the game then. By the way, there is no time limit with this game.
CONCLUSION
Despite the popularity of word games on devices such as the iPad and iPhone, there are still fun word games that can still be played on the web. Games like Scrabble Online, Bookworm Web Version and Monopoly Wii Mini Game can still provide you with fun. Or you can just start saving for the devices mentioned. Anyway, if you do like these games, don't forget to check out the official websites to find more online games. Some of them require Free Trials, some of them require you to pay full price and some of them are simplified cousins of the official board games. Some things still cannot be found in the gadgets mentioned. I hope you do have fun with the three games. If you have any other online word games that you would like to recommend, drop me a comment! That's all for now.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Introducing The Game Crafter
If you are tired of seeing corporate board games or playing Monopoly and you want to try something new, you can check out thegamecrafter.com. This website helps you with board game creation. If you are the more extreme board gamer, you know those who are addicted to board games, you can try making your own here at this very website. I'm not sure if there are other board game creation websites around, but I discovered this after stumbling upon an article from Mashable.
THE HOME PAGE
The home page is a fairly simple homepage. Once you have access, you will immediately stumble upon two options in the middle, You can either choose to make a board game, or you can buy an 'indie' board game. But it's not just board games that they are selling, they also allow you to make card games too. So you can make your own version of UNO or Monopoly Deal. Below the website are some of the games that members of thegamecrafter.com have already created. Sure, they don't really look that familiar but remember, these are 'indie' games.
BOARD/CARD GAME PRODUCTION
After you have clicked on the 'make your game' button on the home page, you will immediately see all these along the side. These are the resources that can help you with your board game making process. There are even demo videos for you to watch so that you are on the right track to making it. After looking at all of this, you may be wondering what will happen if you click 'Karma'. Karma is essentially thegamecrafter.com language for tracking the members' activities in the site. Whether you are contributing to the TGC forums or whatever, you will get Karma points.
Back to the links, the links are really helpful when it comes to making your first game. If you intend to have cards in your game, there are several card templates for you to choose from. And, they also come in different formats which can be compatible with Photoshop, GIMP or whatsoever. There's also the cost estimator which lets you fill in the parts that you intend to add in your game and get an estimate of how much it will cost to manufacture. It's something like a finance calculator if you know what I mean.
THE GAME CRAFTER STORE
Don't forget that thegamecrafter.com is also a place for you to buy independent games. Board/card games to be exact. These games are created by members of the public and members of thegamecrafter.com and you can actually purchase them. You must double check the parts that they will offer. Some game parts may not be familiar with you but you still need to double check to ensure what kind of parts that will be included in the game and you also need to make sure what the game parts look like too as these are created by regular individuals which may or may not have mistakes.
FORUMS
If you need to discuss something, there's the TGC Forums. With forums, members of TGC can discuss among each other about the games offered here. And also, members of the public who are interested or curious or if they just wanna ask questions with the makers about the board/card games, the TGC forums is good way to communicate. There are also testimonials which you can read to see how much customers enjoy the product. Just like regular forums, TGC requires you to register as a member first before writing anything in the forums.
GENERAL CHAT
General Chat is also another way to communicate with other members of TGC. It's similar to Facebook Chat. When I clicked on the right bar of the General chat program, it said that 18 people were just browsing. It won't tell you exactly who are online unlike Facebook chat. Instead it will just tell you your username, In this case, my username was Guest Dorothy because I am simply a guest and not a registered member.
If you click on the left side, you will be presented with a chat window with a slight similarity to Facebook Chat's chat window. All you have to do is to type whatever you want to type and hit Enter. Your name will come up with a Guest name unless you are a registered member. But please, no OFFENSIVE writing. Anything happens, they are not my reponsibility. Use this chat feature to ask questions about the games offered in TGC.
CONCLUSION
thegamecrafter.com is a platform for you to buy and sell independent board games. If you have an idea for a new board game or if you want an easier way to make them and you want more exposure to the members of the public, thegamecrafter.com is a good place to start. If you are sick and tired of the same board/card games, you can come here to buy games designed by members of TGC. Just think of it as indie music for board/card games. TGC is filled with ideas, support, games and all sorts of stuff to get you started with. You get to keep the profits and you don't have to take care of the manufacturing duties. That's all for TGC and I hope you enjoy today's article.
Easy Board Game Tutorials by Howcast
When it comes to board games, I'm sure you are unaware of the instructions right? Even if you have read the instruction manual numerous times, you still won't get it. Don't worry I have the same problem too. What I will always do is search Google to see if any websites offer easy to follow instructions for certain board games. So, in today's article, I am going to show you five board game tutorials or 'how-tos' on five different board/card games, That includes Monopoly, Chinese Checkers, Checkers, Scrabble and Uno.
All five videos were taken from Howcast.com which is one of the most popular How-to video site. Just imagine its YouTube for How-to videos. Not only can you find board/card game tutorials here, you can also find other how-to videos related to different kinds of things. Now, all you have to do now is to choose a game that you're not sure how to play and hit the play button on the video that can help you to play it. Or just watch all if you're up to it. Enjoy!
Monday, March 7, 2011
How to Choose a Portable Board Game
Ah! Portability. Everything's now getting smaller and lighter. Phones, TVs, MP3 Players and tablets. What about board games? Most board games are big and bulky and they contain lots of parts not to mention parts that are a nightmare to find when you lose them. If you are travelling or maybe you wanna just visit the nearest park or shopping mall or maybe you are taking a ride on your friend's car, portable board games will do it. You can just buy board game apps on a tablet computer or smartphone but it doesn't have that charm of traditional board games. So, here are portable board games that I have found at the toys section in the supermarket that may just be appropriate for your needs.
MONOPOLY (S$16.90 AVAILABLE AT NTUC FAIRPRICE XTRA)
The most popular board game in portable form. Everyone likes Monopoly. It's just so fun to collect properties and going around the board and landing yourself in jail for no apparent reason. Isn't it just fun? Now you can just do it with the portable version of Monopoly. The game parts are the one that sets this apart from the original. The parts include a thick plastic board instead of a big thick card board, plastic tokens instead of metal tokens and plastic keys. They four times cheaper than the original but I wouldn't recommend you to buy this if you haven't tried the original.
CLUEDO (S$16.90 AVAILABLE AT NTUC FAIRPRICE XTRA)
If you like problem-solving (not mathematically), then you'll love this game. Cluedo is a board game that teaches you the fundamentals of crime-solving. How do you know who murdered who? That's what the objective of the game is all about. You move around the board, find clues and just like a real crime detective, you get to investigate. But don't worry, you don't have to deal with dead bodies. Just like the Monopoly Portable, most of the parts will be made out of different materials and they may also be slightly smaller to accomodate the portability and smaller price.
PAYDAY (S$16.90 AVAILABLE AT NTUC FAIRPRICE XTRA)
This game is all about MONEY! The board consists of 31 days which mimics a month, and your token will have to survive the whole month with bills, payments and expenses. It's a fairly simple game and you don't need further elaboration. If you want to experience adulthood, (that is if you are younger than an adult), you may want to try this game as it will teach you the fundamentals of money management.
And that's all for today's post. Don't forget to try out these three games when you're out and about or maybe when you don't feel like lugging a big board game box when you're out. Just like in their original form, these games can be addictive and these games can increase friends or family bonding time. Fun part is, all three of them cost at S$16.90 at NTUC Fairprice XTRA. They're located at nex, Jurong Point, Hougang Point and AMK Hub.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Scrabble Competition in School
My group actually consisted of just four members. Okay, make that three. One of them left because she had to go for a dental appointment but nonetheless, there was a replacement. A Secondary 1 boy. Apparently, his team also consisted of just four but unfortunately, all of them did not turn up except him. The teacher then decided that he would join our group since we were short of one.
As you can see from the whiteboard at the picture above, the instructor thought us how to play the game. There were many rules to follow. Firstly, you have to hold the bag of tiles above eye level and dig out one letter tile which is close to the letter A. Both you and your opponent have to do the same. The player which really has a letter tile that is close to A will start first. Oh and don't forget to dig out seven tiles and put it on your tile holder. Don't let your opponent see it. If you start first, make sure you form your word on the star tile which is in the middle of the board. The star tile will act as a double word score.
That's just a short version of how to play Scrabble. If you want to find out more, Google it! I will be participating in the competition and wish me luck!
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Cool Board Games Sold by Vat19.com
Vat19.com is an online retailer which specialises in "Curiously Awesome" products. They sell all kinds of whacky things. Some of them helpful, some of them productive, some of them stupid and the rest of them are FUN AND AWESOME! In today's post, I will just pick out all the more interesting board games sold by them and they all look fun to play with. Some of them can be called both a toy and a mind-challenging game.
Although, I have not bought or played with any of them yet, they look pretty convincing and they're worth a buy. If you're interested in buying these, you can visit their website Vat19.com and they ship worldwide. I may consider getting one of their products. Don't forget to click the play button to view all the cheeky-infomercial style product videos.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Great How-to Video for Monopoly Deal
Remember Monopoly Deal? The game that I have done an unboxing on a few weeks ago? When I first bought the game, I totally have no idea how to play it. Once I discovered this video, I slightly understand the purpose of this game and how to play with it. Until now, I still have not played this game. That's the reason why I still have not done a review on it yet. But anyway, enjoy this tutorial. It will really help you with your game. Monopoly Deal is available at all department stores in Singapore for S$9.90 along with all the other Hasbro Card Games.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Hasbro Card Games
Hasbro released a new category of games (it's not really that new anyway) called Hasbro Card Games. Basically they are card games based on the original board games. In Singapore, Hasbro Card Games that are sold include Boggle Slam, Monopoly Deal and Pictureka Card Game. The latest one released was Cluedo Card Game but I can't find it anywhere in the store. So I am going to go through all three card games here in today's post along with the pictures.
MONOPOLY DEAL CARD GAME
I have done an unboxing of this game before and you can check it out on the sidebar. Monopoly Deal is a streamlined, card game version of the popular game Monopoly (Duh!). How do you play it? It's kinda lengthy to explain it here. Anyway, the goal of Monopoly is about property. In the actual board game, money matters. In this game though, properties matter. The more property you own, the more chances of you winning. In the card game, there are cards that represent currency, properties and action cards. It's available at all major bookstores, toy stores and department stores in Singapore for S$9.90.
BOGGLE SLAM CARD GAME
The next card game is Boggle Slam. In the US, this game is known as Scrabble Slam, but nevertheless, it's still the same thing. Just like the Original, this card game involves you playing with words. Firstly, you will start with four cards that form a four letter word. Then, you will have to keep on changing the words one letter at a time. For example, you will start with SLAM then SLAP then SLAT then SEAT and so forth. This game is available at all major bookstores, department stores and toy stores all over Singapore for S$9.90
PICTUREKA CARD GAME
Last but not least, there's Pictureka Card Game. This game involves your creativity, matching skills and you will have to complete missions. It's not really a simple game plus I rather play with words than play with pictures that look funny. Nevertheless, if you like playing with pictures and such you can get this Hasbro Card Game at all major bookstores, toy stores and department stores in Singapore for S$9.90.
Other Hasbro Card Games include Cluedo Card Game, Scrabble Slam (a US variant of Boggle Slam), Sorry Revenge, 1000 Mille Bornes, Littlest Pet Shop Go Fish, Yahtzee Hands Down, Crazy Old Fish War and Rook. Unfortunately, only the four that I have mentioned are available in Singapore. For the rest, you can buy it online at the Hasbro Online Store or Amazon. So if you don't want to spend big money on board games, you can get card versions of the board games for a fraction of the original board game price. Although the gameplay might be different from the original board games. That's it for now.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Lamarr Wilson's Favourite Board Games
A few days back, I have shown you Craig Benzine's AKA Wheezy Waiter's Top 5 Board Games video right? Now I am showing you another video of YouTube partner, Lamarr Wilson, who operates the Lamarr channel, Wilsontech1, Wilsontech2 and Wt1 channels on YouTube. His favourite games include Dominoes, old style Backgammon, Stratego and a rare find, Super Scrabble Deluxe Edition. Now all you have to do is to hit the Play button and start watching. Plus, don't forget to subscribe all the channels he operate.
PLUS! BONUS VIDEO FROM LAMARR WILSON.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Trip to the Istana
We had to join a very long queue to the Istana. Since it was free to enter, (must show identification and foreigners will have to pay S$1 to enter the Istana) lots of visitors queued up like a maze (as shown in the picture) right until the front entrance of Plaza Singapura. After showing identification, we had to go for security checks as they do not want suspicious people and suspicious articles to be present in the premises.
Anyway, the security checks were hassle free and they were better than full body scanners right? After we have passed by the security checks, we were greeted with lots of greenery and there were also some visitors enjoying themselves on the grass having picnics, playing some ball and such. There were even golf holes. Since the Istana is the place where our Singapore president lives in, I'm sure he would like to enjoy golfing right at the front yard.
There were even elevators in the main building. So if they want to climb up to other levels, all they have to do is to push a button and wait for the elevator to come and pick them up. How many times have you seen a house with a built-in elevator in it? Elevators in HDB apartments in Singapore do not count. Eventually, we had a chance to visit the state room which was like a meeting room of some sort. With grand luxurious interior, luxury seats and a mini stage with a podium bearing the state crest of Singapore.
I forgot to mention this. Right before we bought our tickets to check out the main building, there were performances at the entrance of the main building. And guess what? WE SAW THE PRESIDENT OF SINGAPORE!!! His name is Mr S R Nathan and he is currently the president of Singapore. Our president has been serving his duty for 12 years and unfortunately, this year or next year will probably be his last year serving as president. He and his family were all present at the front entrance of the Istana main building and they get to watch the Chinese Dance performance. By the way, the man in purple below is the president of Singapore.
The visit to Istana was truly an unforgettable experience and you, regardless of whether you are Singaporean or not, should also enjoy the experience of going to the Istana. But a word of warning though, everytime you are planning a trip to the Istana, make sure you get yourself prepared by getting dressed in comfortable clothing, wear comfortable shoes and make sure you have strong legs as the distance from the main entrance to the main building is quite a long one. Pack in some snacks and drinks too. They're allowed but you are not allowed to consume it when you are in the Main Building.
Have some cash with you too. There will be souvenirs for sale. From bottles to mugs to souvenir books to umbrellas. Speaking of umbrellas, get yourself an umbrella because you will never know when it rains. Plaza Singapura is a shopping mall beside Istana and that will fulfill all your hunger and thirst and shopping needs after you have visited the Istana. Next open house will be held on 1 May on a Labour Day public holiday. Scroll down for more pictures of the Istana.
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